After Nine
by Tamarai
Summary: It's Halloween night and Gambit comes calling on Rogue. A fluffy, little, festive oneshot. Romy.


**After Nine**

**Summary:** It's Halloween night and Gambit comes calling on Rogue. A fluffy, little, festive oneshot. Romy.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the X-men nor am I affiliated with Marvel in any way.

**Author's Notes: **Here's a little 'thank you' to everyone who has been patiently waiting for me to post something new. Happy Halloween!

* * *

It was a chilly night for Halloween. Rogue wasn't sure why she had even bothered to dress up or for that matter, be festive to begin with. No kids would come up to the creepy, old mansion on Halloween night. Not even for candy.

The rumours about the place had been circulating well before Rogue had come to live here with her fellow mutant peers. Rumours of strange sights and experiments arose out of the misunderstandings people had about mutants.

Her night was deemed pathetic as she sat on the couch eating candy, dressed up as witch while watching scary movies on cable TV. It was certainly a waste of an evening, but it was better than the alternative—which was to sit pathetically by herself as a wallflower at Bayville High's Annual Halloween Party. A party she'd been adamantly telling herself she did not want to go to.

The rest of the mansion's inhabitants had gone, all dressed up and laughing ready for dancing, games and revelry…all of which Rogue couldn't partake in.

She didn't care what the Professor said. It just wasn't safe for her to be around that many people. She refused to humiliate herself by wearing something that covered her completely, like a gorilla costume or something stupid like that. Not while all the other girls got to be sexy nurses or kittens and whatnot.

It was safe to say that she'd be bitterly jealous sitting on the sidelines while all the other girls at the mansion would get to slow dance and flirt with guys. None of them having to worry about knocking anyone unconscious and scaring potential suitors away.

So Rogue had opted to stay home and hand out candy for the Professor while he and the rest of the teachers took the night off , doing whatever adults did for fun on Halloween. Rogue suspected it was dinner and then some sort of classy event like an opera or museum, although she couldn't see Logan sitting through either of those.

She stifled a yawn and glanced at her watch. It was already nine-thirty and still not any brave trick or treaters. She might as well call it a night and retire to her room. She began to pull off the long, black gloves that added to her costume when the door bell rang.

Surprised and somewhat excited, she raced to the door with the candy, eager to see which kid had dared to walk up to the mansion's door. That kid would be getting the mother load of candy tonight, she thought as she pulled open the door.

He was dressed in a top hat and tuxedo with a satin cape. And was certainly _not_ a kid. Rogue inevitably rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Trick or treat, cherie." Gambit grinned, flashing his pearly whites with gusto.

Rogue eased into a petulant sort of lean and cocked a hand to her hip, staring wryly at her unwelcome visitor. "Aren't you a little old to be trick or treating?" she asked sardonically.

"Aren't you a little young to be wasting your night handing out candy?" he replied back without missing a beat.

Her first instincts were to tell him to get the hell out of here. Instead she asked, "When did you get back into town?" Like they were friends.

He gave a nonchalant shrug that could have meant anything, and she knew it was the only answer she'd get from him. She hadn't seen him since she'd left him in New Orleans. As far as she knew, he was supposed to be staying there. Only a complete idiot would show up back in Bayville after kidnapping her and receiving a threat from Logan.

Apparently Gambit was an idiot because he was standing right in front of her on the mansion's steps, regardless of what Logan would do to him if he was caught hanging around.

She put down her bowl of candy and crossed her arms, leaning against the doorframe. "What are you supposed to be anyway? A Dracula or something?"

"A Magician," he corrected with a sweeping bow that involved a courtly removal of the top hat.

He flicked his arms slightly and Rogue jumped back despite herself when a sudden shock of red appeared in front of her. He was holding a bouquet of roses that had literally appeared out of thin air. He held the bouquet out to her and she gingerly accepted it.

She had expected silk flowers since they would have held up better wherever he had had them hidden. They weren't fake flowers at all. It was impressive that not a petal or a leaf had fallen when he'd presented them to her. Nor were any bent or wilted.

"These are real," she stated, dumbstruck as she fingered the soft, velvet petals.

"'Course they are," Gambit replied almost insulted. "I don't do _cheap_ parlour tricks."

"I'm not surprised you do any at all," Rogue remarked dryly. Gambit was the only boy she knew that was as slippery as water snake and as dangerous as a snapping 'gator. 'Trustworthy' was the last word anyone would use to describe him and she knew that from experience. She'd been exposed first hand to Gambit's tricksy behaviour and on more than one occasion too.

Why he was standing here on her doorstep on Halloween and bringing her flowers was beyond her. God, he hadn't gotten the wrong impression or something the last time they'd seen each other, had he? Because Rogue was pretty sure that even though she had taken his stupid playing card for luck, she hadn't given him any inkling to a friendship developing or possibly something a little more intimate between them.

_Not_ that the idea was completely closed to her, it was just that it would never work. Not with her mutation and not with the general opinion her teammates and teachers seemed to carry in regards to the wily mutant thief. She decided it was best to get him to his point, rather than lingering with him in the doorway.

"Other than performing magic tricks on my doorstep, Gambit, what are you doing here?" She tried to sound bored even though his sudden reappearance in her life had her slightly curious and intrigued. Gambit had always had a certain way of shocking her senses with the most pleasing undertones. It didn't matter how many times she fell for his crafty ploys and tricks, there was still something she found secretly appealing and even attractive about him. _Not_ that she would admit to that.

"I thought that was obvious," he answered with a bit of a frown.

She thought she detected a hint of frustration from the poor boy. A slow, taunting smile played across her face as she started to suspect why he was here. It was actually really flattering, especially when she knew exactly what Logan had said he'd do to him if he ever showed up here again.

"It's not," she remarked with a breezy air and pulled herself up from the doorframe. It wasn't very often she was given the opportunity to be a tease, or be coy or even flirt. Most mutant guys avoided her because of her soul sucking mutation, and most human guys avoided her because of her 'freaky goth' appearance and 'bitch' attitude.

But here Gambit was, back in Bayville, against all his better judgment just to see her. She had always had the notion that he was a self-preserving kind of guy and certainly not a fool for love. It appeared she was wrong as he began to fidget with his glove-covered hands as he thought of what to say next.

"I came to see you, naturally," he replied, finally coming up with a winsome answer and finishing it off with that charming smile of his.

She couldn't help but smile back. Not an open mouth one, but more of a quiet, closed lip one. He was quite the charmer when he wanted to be, and Rogue couldn't decide if she thought that was a fault or not.

"And why on earth would you want to come and see me?" she asked as she looked up at him coyly, giving him her best smoldering glance.

"That's easy, cherie." He beamed. "You have my lucky playing card!"

Rogue's face fell and quickly formed into her usual mean-girl scowl. She had completely misread him. He had come all this way for a stupid piece of cardboard? Not for her, but a cheap, worthless playing card. Needless to say, she was miffed. She narrowed her eyes to vicious little slits and with nimble fingers reached into her bra and retrieved his stupid playing card from her cleavage. She shoved the card back at him angrily.

"Mon Dieu." He grinned mischievously. "Had I known you kept it there I would have asked to get it myself."

"Just take your stupid card back, Gambit," she bit tersely. It wasn't like she always carried the card there. It was only when she didn't have any pockets, but there was really no point in trying to explain that to him.

Without a word, he fluidly slipped the Queen of Hearts he'd given her in New Orleans back into a deck that had magically appeared in his other hand. He began shuffling the deck.

She raised her eyebrows in a patronizing arc. "Shouldn't you be on your way now? You got what you came for."

"Did I?" he asked mysteriously as he fanned the cards out with their backs facing her. "Pick a card, cherie, any card."

"_Seriously?_" She stared at him incredulously. Fighting back her temper, she continued, "Pick a card? What the hell makes you think I have _any_ desire to do that?"

She almost slapped him when he only answered with that damn, winsome Prince Charming smile. Glowering at him, she plucked a card from pile, having no real idea why she was catering to his demands in the first place.

As if her evening wasn't bad enough, now she was playing childish magic tricks on her front porch with the biggest jerk she'd ever met. Oh yeah, the Halloween party she'd skipped out on was looking _real_ good now. At least there, no one would have been openly trying to humiliate her. She would have simply been left alone on the bleachers, watching everyone else have fun.

"If it's the card you gave me, manners dictate that you have to pay the magician his price for the trick—"

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Rogue fumed angrily. "Now you want money?"

She went to slam the door in his face, but he caught the closing door and pushed it back open with a sudden burst of force.

"So, it _is_ the Queen of Hearts you picked?" he asked triumphantly, leaning his weight against the door to keep Rogue from closing it all the way.

"Yes! But I ain't paying you no God damned fee! Now I suggest you take your weight off this door before my gloves come off! I mean it, Gambit!" she snapped back while trying to shove the door closed on him.

"I never said I wanted money," he replied placidly.

"What?" Rogue asked as his words startled her out of her anger and into shock. "But you said—"

"I said you had to pay the magician his price, I never said anything 'bout no money."

Rogue heaved a very frustrated and exasperated sigh. "Gambit, I swear to God, you are the most infuriating man I have ever met! Why can't you go and play your games somewhere else?"

"'Cause you're not somewhere else," he answered quietly. "Aren't you going to ask what the price of the trick is?"

It was obvious he wasn't leaving until he'd finished his little magician's act, so Rogue found herself rolling her eyes disdainfully and once again crossing her arms across her chest. Why he enjoyed tormenting her was beyond her, just as the many other puzzling things he did were.

"What's the price?" she asked with a slight edge.

"A dance," he answered. "A single, slow dance with you."

Rogue's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Alright," she answered warily. "What's the catch?"

"There is no—"

"Gambit!" she barked, knowing better than to fully trust him.

"Alright," he muttered. "The catch is we go to the Halloween party."

"You tried my patience because you wanted a date to some stupid costume party?" Even saying it out loud it sounded utterly ridiculous and supremely idiotic.

"I like to think of it as dazzling you with my intellect and prowess." He smiled gallantly again and Rogue tried really hard this time not to smile back.

"You performed irritating magic tricks," she answered, trying to stay mad at him and failing miserably. She found it was hard with that damn charming smile of his plastered across his face.

"But each one worked," he argued defensively.

"Yeah," she answered, suddenly very interested in how he'd explain the cards. "How did you get it so I picked the Queen of Hearts?"

"A magician never reveals his secrets," he answered stubbornly.

Rogue gave him a droll stare.

"Alright." He sighed. "It's a subconscious thing. People are naturally drawn to their belongings. I never did a thing, it was all you."

"And had I picked wrong?"

"You really have no idea how many tricks I've got up my sleeve, do you?" he answered slyly.

She couldn't help herself. She laughed. There was just something about him that she liked, despite his tendency to do everything in a roundabout way—including asking her out.

"Okay." She smiled. "I'll go dance with you, but I doubt we'll get through one song before my team is yanking me away. You're bad influence, you know."

"Naw, not a bad influence, just a misunderstood one," he answered as he held his arm out for her to loop hers through as though he were a courtly gentleman.

Rogue grabbed the spare key the Professor kept in a ceramic bowl by the door and locked the mansion up. Ready to go, she laced her arm through Gambit's.

They were halfway down the mansion's driveway when a thought hit her. How had he known she was here and not at the dance? The answer came to her in seconds and she stifled a laugh.

"You were already at that party looking for me, weren't you?"

His face went tense and he glanced away before he gave a single, guilty answer. "No."

Rogue shook her head slightly, playing along so he could keep his dignity. Of course he'd already been there. Gambit may have been an idiot, but even he wasn't stupid enough to dress up for Halloween for no reason other than to knock on a girl's door in hopes she was home.

She also decided that since she was letting him keep his pride and letting him think that he was _oh so intelligent_, she would avoid telling him that the Queen of Hearts she'd pulled from his pile was not her Queen of Hearts.

Her card had been softly and smoothly worn out from being carried everywhere. She knew the rounded, worn down edges and the feel of that playing card better than she'd ever say aloud. She knew it well because it was his gift to her. Despite everything he was, she had loved that stupid piece of cardboard. It had only meant one thing to her.

That he liked her.

He'd planned the card trick, thinking ahead that she would refuse him if he plain old asked her out. She had very little doubt how his trick had worked the moment she had pulled out the replica of her card.

He was carrying a full deck of only the Queen of Hearts.

It would have saved him a heap of trouble, and her temper, if he'd plain old asked her out, but then she probably would have said no on account of him missing his charm and appeal.

End


End file.
